How is Pain and Suffering Calculated in Indiana?

Victims incur various damages due to negligence, including emotional damages. But how can you calculate pain and suffering in an injury claim, and, furthermore, how can you prove it?

To calculate pain and suffering in Indiana, our lawyers may use the per diem or multiplier methods. Based on the severity of your injuries, the extent of your pain and suffering, your age, and your likelihood of making a full physical recovery, we can estimate your deserved compensation for non-economic damages. Furthermore, expert witnesses can testify about your anticipated physical recovery and likely limitations to help prove pain and suffering in your case. You can also give statements regarding your reduced quality of life after the accident. Indiana only caps non-economic damages in certain cases, like claims against the government and medical malpractice claims.

To get our Indiana personal injury lawyers to review your case for free, call Wruck Paupore now at (219) 322-1166.

How to Calculate Pain and Suffering for Your Indiana Injury Claim

Pain and suffering refers to the distress victims experience following traumatic accidents in Indiana. Because these damages are subjective, our lawyers must use complex methods to estimate pain and suffering, such as the per diem and multiplier methods.

Using the Per Diem Method

The per diem method breaks down a victim’s pain and suffering into a daily rate, say so speak. Our Indianapolis personal injury lawyers can assign a dollar amount to your daily non-economic damages and then multiply that dollar amount by the number of days your pain and suffering will continue. The exact daily rate we use will be based on various factors, like the severity of your injuries and your daily wages.

As an example, using the daily rate of $200, suppose you anticipate experiencing pain and suffering for at least a year following an accident in Indiana. In that case, according to the per diem method, your non-economic damages would be around $73,000.

Using the Multiplier Method

Some parties, particularly insurers and defense lawyers, may try to use the multiplier method to calculate your non-economic damages by referring to your economic damages. This begins by calculating total economic damages (or sometimes only medical bill costs) due to an accident. This number is then multiplied by a number often between 1.5 and 5. The multiplier chosen may depend on how severe your injuries are and your physical limitations. For example, if you sustained a permanent head or spinal cord injury during an accident in Indiana, we might use a multiplier of 5 when calculating your pain and suffering.

Although this system is commonly referenced, it is not one that we use because it ignores the individual circumstances of particular cases and falsely assumes that there is a neat correlation between economic losses suffered and the impact on a person’s life, which is rarely true.

The one thing that the multiplier method does effectively do is emphasize a common truth: typically the value of an injury victim’s pain and suffering and other non-economic damages is larger than that of the victim’s economic losses. Despite this, insurance companies often try to dismiss full recovery for these losses. Our lawyers insist on full and just payment for non-economic losses.

Factors to Consider When Calculating a Victim’s Pain and Suffering in Indiana

A victim’s trauma from an accident might be complex and multifaceted, affecting their life in various ways. In light of this, our lawyers will consider various factors when calculating your non-economic damages in Indiana.

For example, the type of injury will matter. While a broken foot will take months to heal, you might still be able to go to work and engage in daily activities, with some limitations. However, a traumatic brain injury is likely to have a greater impact on a victim’s daily life and might never fully heal. Because of this, the victim with the traumatic brain injury would likely recover greater non-economic damages than the victim with a bone fracture.

On top of the type of injury, the type of treatment you will need could factor into your non-economic damages. For example, if you need extensive surgeries or long-term physical therapy, that might take a toll on your mental health, entitling you to more compensation for pain and suffering. Other factors, like a victim’s age, also matter when calculating damages due to pain and suffering.

Be forthcoming about your mental well-being following an accident, and tell our lawyers about how the accident has harmed your quality of life. For example, if you sustained a permanent back injury that prevents you from playing with your kids, that might cause you pain and suffering worthy of compensation. Consider keeping a journal to note the various ways in which an accident has impacted you.

How to Prove Pain and Suffering in Indiana

After calculating your non-economic damages due to negligence, our lawyers must prepare and present evidence supporting your request for compensation.

Since damages from pain and suffering are inherently subjective, they require compelling evidence to prove. For example, testimony from medical professionals or other experts can illustrate how the victim’s specific injuries would physically limit them, preventing them from engaging in daily activities and reducing their quality of life. Coupled with medical records proving the severity of your injuries, such testimony can help you prove pain and suffering in your case.

Victims can also give statements explaining their emotional struggles since an accident. Traumatic events like car accidents might leave victims with anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses. Mental health professionals can assess victims and give testimony regarding their various mental and emotional difficulties following an accident in Indiana.

In addition to proving pain and suffering, our lawyers must also prove your economic damages. We can do this by carefully tracking all financial losses due to the accident in question, like your lost wages and medical bills.

Does Indiana Cap Compensation for Pain and Suffering?

Indiana caps compensation for pain and suffering in some cases. For example, in claims against the government with one plaintiff, total recoverable damages are capped at $700,000, according to I.C. § 34-13-3-4(1)(c). And under I.C. § 34-18-14-3(5), Indiana caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice claims at $1.8 million.

There is no cap on non-economic damages in general personal injury claims. However, that does not mean that compensation is guaranteed or that there is a minimum amount of non-economic damages victims must recover.

Call Our Injury Lawyers in Indiana Now

Wruck Paupore’s Gary, IN personal injury lawyers at (219) 322-1166 to get a free case assessment.